Ancient Egyptian texts

Is there any here like Hardjedef? Is there another like Iyemhotep? There have been none among our kindred like Neferti and Khety. I recall to you the names of Ptahemdjehuty and Khakheperresonbe. Is there another like Ptahhotep or Kaires?

Like all else in Egyptology, ancient texts are the source of much controversy. While deciphering the writing and rediscovering the language has come a long way since Champollion, many doubts remain and translators can have widely differing interpretations of the same texts (cf the two versions of the Hymn to the Nile)
This reader consists mostly of older translations which have been largely superseded by, as we hope, scientifically more correct versions. Some of the texts have been retranslated by me from French, German or Spanish versions, which adds another layer of possible misinterpretations. All this should however not diminish the pleasure that can be derived from reading them.

What they built of gates and chapels now are fallen,
their soul-priests and their gardeners are gone,
their headstones undiscovered in the dirt,
their very graves forgotten.
But their fame lives on in their papyrus rolls
composed while they were still alive;
And the memory of those who wrote such books shall last
to the end of time and for eternity.